Ten Days on The (Sandy & Wet) Road with the X-T1 System

Well I’m now back from 10+ days down in the Florida Keys, Key West, and the Dry Tortugas. In a previous post I promised to record some stats with regards to what lenses I used and how many images were taken with each one. Here we are:

Grand total images: 5,860

Fuji 18-55: 3,190

Fuji 16mm 1.4: 1,776

Fuji 55-200: 560

Zeiss Touit 12mm 2.8: 240

Fuji 23mm 1.4: 94

Fuji 35mm 1.4: Zero. Nada. Zip

As i expected the 18-55 just rocks! Images are amazing. Solid, clear and sharp. The 18-55 is just so darn versatile! The images below was taken with the 18-55 in case you were wondering. To start, and end each day, the 18-55 was on the X-T1. No questions asked. From there, depending on the situation, I would switch to another lens if warranted. In my opinion it is truly a classic! I love it! In all honesty I was a bit concerned; I even thought about buying or renting the 18-135 which is weather resistant as I wasn’t 100% positive about the 18-55 surviving all the sand, salt water and torrential rains. I’m glad I kept the faith and just used my 18-55. On the other hand I’ve heard from quite a few folks that their copy isn’t sharp. That’s a darn shame because it is an extremely versatile lens no matter what.

Keep in mind, I was in and around sand and salt water 90% of the time I was down there– and for three full days I was on a small island, with four other individuals after the boat dropped us off, and in sand all. day. long. My biggest fear was damaging one of the lenses as the only one that I own that is weather resistant is the 16mm. In future posts (as i just started reviewing images) I will show photos where I’m literally laying at the waters edge, with the camera on the sand. Now of course my hands are coated in wet sand and salt water — but ALL the lenses performed great and are still working! The only slight issue I had was with the X-T1 body. I got some sand stuck under the on/off button and it was a bear to turn on or off. That’s it. Eventually it cleaned itself out because all is well. Each and every lens was used in sand, and salt water. I was at the shoreline, or physically in the water (see two images below) when photographing certain scenes for stock use. I had props that I had to place and organize, and when I was doing that, the camera was sitting on the wet sand. That was my biggest fear – that I would mess up one of the lenses but I feared for no reason whatsoever.